I got some good reviews from the previous chapter. To those waiting , here's the finisher.

Dragons, Lizards & Edgerunner Code

In a small isolated side street of Kabuki, one away from prying eyes, a crack in space time formed. From there a portal opened and a girl with long dark blue hair and a katana strapped to her waist fell back into reality. She was tired, wounded, and came straight from hell. And she'd never fealt more alive because of it.

Saeko could only grin as she slumped against the wall in the street. She held up her newly acquired katana, checking if it was real. It was. If the blade was real, then her battle to the death with her own doopleganger was also real. 'To think… a paradise like that existed all this time. If only I'd Known about it sooner. if only…'

She waited a few minutes for her legs to stop aching and she found her strength again. Once she did, she got up and headed back to her family's inn. She needed time off work to scour the city for David and his friends.

"Either I'll kill him, kiss him, or serve him. There will be no other alternative I'll accept!" if it was possible, the young lady would attempt all three more than once.

_Katsuo's Palace_

Shadow Katsuo groaned as he landed in the rubble that once made his throne.'

David just smirked at him, holding his spear over his shoulders. He seemed relaxed, like he didn't just knock down his hated enemy. "So much for being the best, eh Katsuo?"

Shadow Katsuo scowled as he got up. "How dare you, you filthy street rat! This is my world, my empire-"

"No it's not." David cut in. "Even if it is your Palace, it's not your power. Because we both know that the only reason you have any power… the only reason anyone gives a damn about you… is your father. Without him, you'd be worth less than me."

"You- YOU-!" Katsuo was seething at this point, and his form began to distort and change. His skin started to develop scales and his hands became sharpened talons. His head morphed to resemble that of a crocodile. He looked like a He flexed his new claws and snarled at David. "I'll tear you limb from fucking limb!"

The whole transformation made him look like the Lizard man hybrid from some 20th century comic book. David just huffed and readied his spear. 'Well, that at least confirms my suspicions 'bout the dragon.'

He started slashing at David with his claws, but the young lancer was quick to evade. He'd split his spear into its stake and club combo, using both to parry and block the lizard prince's strikes. All the while, he was goading him with every breath.

"You're wrong! I don't need my god-forsaken father!"

"Yet the minute we arrive, you call for him. Daddy's boy to the end right?"

"I'll gut you myself. Not even he'll stop me!"

"You sure? I still see you cringe from when he called you out earlier. Makes sense for a spineless guy like you."

"Bastard…. Bastard, Bastard! BASTARD, BASTA-"

"ENOUGH." The massive dragon flying just above the ground stopped attacking the others and focused on David. The dragon floated down slowly, until it was facing David, its eyes locked on the Latino. "You really think so boy? You think you don't need me?"

Katsuo stumbled back. "I just meant, well, that I could- um, deal with this pest on my own-"

"Then do so. NOW." Tanaka growled.

Katsuo switched his gaze, either glaring at David or avoiding Tanaka's gaze. He then focused on David and flexed his claws again. "Martinez. I'll beat you, one on one, winner take all! If you accept, drop your spear, put up your fists, and fight me like a man!"

Rex hummed at that. Katsuo and Tanaka Sr. both awaited his answer. His only response was to stab his spear into the ground. Then, he squared off against Katsuo, standing face to face with his former bully.

Meanwhile, Crosshairs, Riot and Oni had recovered and stood up. The redhead tries to move to get closer, but Crosshairs held him back. "Rex has this, he figured out the winning scenario."

"I thought the dragon was the final boss though. Wasn't he?" Riot asked.

Crosshairs shook his head. "Nah. he's a distraction. Don't forget whose palace this is."

Katsuo clenched his fists, and got into a stance. David recognized it; it was the same stance he used whenever he used his martial arts neuralware and laid into him before. 'Not this time.' Rex touches his metal mask, causing it to disappear. He entered this fight not as Rex the Lancer and Hellraider… but as David the Cyberpunk.

Katsuo brought up his fists, having calmed down enough to take their fight all the more seriously. David brought up his fists and did the same.

Katsuo threw a punch, but David blocked. Katsuo struck again, only for him to dodge. David would prompt him for more, and Katsuo did with an angry scowl. This pattern repeated. David didn't waste his energy on fighting back; he was waiting for the right moment.

Between his intense sparring matches with Regalla and his less intense matches with Ryuko and Eijiro, David got a feel for how dangerous his enemies were. Shadow Katsuo was stronger than him and had more stamina, but not faster. David's only chance was to tire him out before ending it with one hit.

When Katsuo lunged at him and struck with both arms, tired and frustrated, he had his moment.

David finally went all out. He combined the speed of the sandevistan with the reinforcement technique, and then added a third component: his magic. Some time after the fight with Orobas, he gained more skills with Odysseus. One of them was a stronger wind attack against a single target.

Thus, with a battle cry of Garula, David raised up his fist and punched him in the face with all his might. He hit him so hard that the impact cracked the stone ground beneath him, with Katsuo dead center of the crater. David backed up, looking grim but triumphant.

Katsuo groaned as he lay on the floor, defeated… All while his guardian deity- the source of his authority- watched. Judging by the flames coming from its nostrils, it was not happy. "...you have failed me, you worthless spawn of mine."

Katsuo frantically tried to get back to his feet. "N-no! I didn't fail, I never did! I can still-"

The lizard boy was interrupted when the dragon swung around and slammed his tail onto Katsuo, flattening him back into the ground.

"You failed me, like you always do…" The dragon sneered. When Katsuo got up and tried to make more excuses, the tyrant dragon slammed the child with its tail. "I tire of your weakness, your insolence and your pathetic existance entirely. I shall have to breed another spawn to take your place. Farewell…" With its last words, it ascended leaving the area and into the sky.

"No! Wait! Come Back!" Katsuo wailed as he fell to the ground, his voice distorting as he lost. As he called for his father again and again, his form melted, and he returned to his original human form.

Riot, Oni and Crosshairs approached Rex and the prone Katsuo. Rex glanced at Riot who showed the standard. They still had the treasure. 'Now, we can finally be done with this place…'

Crosshairs flicked his wrist, letting out his wires. The wires then wrapped around Katsuo's neck. "This has been a long time coming, bastard."

"Wait, please!" Katsuo begged. "You can have the treasure, I won't stop you-"

"You're wrong, you can't stop us. So I'm thinkin I'll take your life as wel-" His hand was grabbed by David who gave him a look, one he didn't like. He liked his next words even less.

"Let him go Cross." David said.

"Why the hell should I?" Crosshairs shot back. "No one will miss him, not even his own dad."

Rex considered explaining, but the Palace would fall apart any minute now. "I'll explain later, but we can't kill people using the metaverse."

Crosshairs was unconvinced. "Can't or won't?"

David summoned his mask and spear once more, becoming Rex. "We'll discuss this later, but we need to go. Now."

Crosshairs tsked' at that before pulling back his threads, releasing Katsuo from his hold. Just as he did, Katsuo disappeared, fading away right before their eyes. Crosshairs turned to give Rex a piece of his mind, but before he could, the ground started to shake and the walls started falling apart, knocking him down.

"The hell's going ON!" Riot shouted as he felt the earthquake.

"The palace is collapsing!" Rex warned as he pulled Crosshairs up. "Without the treasure and ruler, it has no core. Which means we need to move! Now!" he started running for the exit, with the others right with him.

Riot used his strength to get through any debris in their way, either by or charging straight through it. When they came across a deep chasm, Crosshairs used his threads to get them across.

They'd made it to the main court yard when one final obstacle stood in their way.

"MAGGOTS! YOU TRICKED ME!" The Tanaka dragon had returned, and used its body to block their escape. Its once shining scales were now rotting, and had a foul stench. One of its horns was broken and blood poured out from one of its eyes. It looked more undead than divine.

Rex scoffed and pointed his spear at the decayed dragon. "Yeah, we did! And you fell for it. Now get out of our way!"

"WORTHLESS INSECTS!" The dragon let loose its fire once again, only it was weaker than before. Riot jumped in front and blocked the blow, protecting his teammates from the blast entirely. The others never felt the heat.

Crosshairs drew several daggers from his coat, grinning. "My knives weren't strong enough before, but now…" he threw knife after knife at the dragon, and every blade cut into its weakened scales. The blades dug into his arms, eyes, snout and jaw. His grin turned feral as the dragon howled in pain.

Enraged beyond reason, the dragon charged, mouth opened wide to swallow the next raider it could… which happened to be Riot. Riot just grimaced and stood his ground. When it got close enough, Riot grabbed it by its teeth- upper and lower jaws caught in his grasp- and stopped the dragon in its track. He hefted its body into the air before calling out: "I got it, finish it now!"

Rex and Oni didn't hesitate. They rushed forward, blades ready, Rex from the right and Oni from the Left. They met in the middle and sliced clean across the dragon's throat, causing its blood to rain down and a painful scream from the dragon.

When Riot let go, the dragon slumped to the ground, defeated. All it could do was glare at them as they left.

_Avernus_

When the crew finally exited the Palace and entered the rest of Avernus, they could clearly see the shining white buildings falling apart. Much like the dragon, they lost their luster and fell into ruin.

Once they were out, they didn't stop moving. They learned fairly quickly that shadows would swarm them if they stayed in the open for too long. They headed to one of the buildings and hid inside. Once they found a safe spot without any Shadows, they sat down.

"Everyone good?" David asked as he leaned down against a wall. Ryuko and Eijiro took a seat on a nearby couch while Lubbock slumped into a chair across from David.

"What about the standard treasure? Do we have-" Ryuko asked but was cut off.

"Got it!" Kirishima reached into his pocket and pulled out the Standard. "now what?"

David scratched the back of his head. "With the Palace destroyed, it should revert to a real item at any moment…"

Just as he mentioned that, the standard began to glow. Kirishima let go of it, dropping it onto the ground. Seconds later, its form changed, shrinking to reveal…

"A Data shard?" Ryuko was the one who spoke, staring down at the piece of metal with a scowl. "We went through all those shadows, the traps, the dragon and his wimp of a son, and we got a fucking data shard. Are you kidding me!?"

Lubbock just sighed. "Let's check the data on it before we go cursing anyone out. Sound good, Matoi?" By the look on her face, Ryuko wanted to throttle him instead. David just breezed past that and picked it up. He slotted into his neck and went over the data.

"..." the Latino recognized some of the data. Arasaka data. "Holy shit. How the hell is this real?"

Lubbock just crossed his arms. "Well? What is it?"

David took out the shard and passed it to Lubbock. When the verdette realized what it was, Lubbock started laughing like a loon.

"Transcripts for classes… Textbooks and assignments… Lesson Plans and assessments for dozens of classes all for the last 10 years. Everything an instructor would need to teach… or a student to cheat them."

"Data from a Corpo academy? That's better than nothin I guess." Ryuko sighed.

Corporations guard their data zealously within their data fortresses. Solo netrunners stood no chance of gaining the data within them. Even other corporations couldn't do it, though they often try.

And they now have a shard filled with exclusive data from Arasaka academy.

"Dude, we're gonna make good eddies when we sell that." Lubbock grinned.

"What about Maine?" Eijiro cut in. "David's still gotta pay the debt."

"Yeah." Lubbock agreed, and turned to David. "It would be nice if we knew how much Maine paid for the damn thing. Oh if only we knew…"

"40k." David cut in with a smirk. He'd already got a message from Lucy about the price before they dealt with Katsuo's treasure.

Lubbock huffed. "...Fine, she came in clutch, but I don't trust her."

"Is it because she conned me instead of you?"

"I'd trust her even less in that case!"

"And yet you'd still be gazing at her like a fan."

"More like watching out for a backstab-"

"Lubbock, you know a fixer, right?" Ryuko cut in before they could spiral into more arguments, especially about a lady she wasn't fond of. "How much do you think he'd pay for this?"

Lubbock hummed at that. "I'd wager we can get enough. Let me call him…"

He called the semi-retired fixer from Northside. The semi-retirement was a result of a gig involving a couple of young upstarts that tried to turn on Regina Jones. Supposedly he worked out a deal with her after fixing that mess. Fortunately for them, he was willing to pay them upfront 45,000 Eddies for it… but they had to deliver it within the hour.

Lubbock was gonna go make the trade… until David stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "What?"

David grimaced as he spoke. "When you get the cash, split it evenly between the four of us."

Lubbock raised an eyebrow at that. "And Maine?"

David shook his head. "I'll figure something out."

Lubbock just sighed. "Dude, just take the 40k. We'll split the rest between ourselves."

David looked to the others for their reactions. Kirishima gave him the thumbs up while Ryuko just nodded. "Take care of shit with tall, dark and angry. You'll make it up to us I'm sure." Ryuko would probably beat him up in sparring, but he won't complain if she considers something else.

Eijiro nodded. "You were the one who figured out how to beat the Palace ruler in the end… and since you need it to settle a debt, you can get the larger share for it."

David thanked them and left. An hour later, he had the 40k he needed. With Katsuo dealt with and the funds received, he was ready to face Maine. 'First time we'll meet face to face since the hellfire incident.'

"There's no way I'm leaving things unsettled." David said as he made a call. He got Maine's number from Lucy, so he could settle the score with him.

And done. All that's left for this arc is Maine and David's first meeting since the hellfire incident. I'm looking forward to writing that.